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By Johnny Walker
In a heated “Face-Off” with his upcoming opponent Dereck “Del Boy” Chisora of the UK held on Boxnation TV, WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko admitted that he carried his last challenger, former cruiserweight king Tomasz Adamek, because the fight was being held in Adamek’s home country of Poland.
Chisora went at the champion during the debate with a mixture of praise and criticism. He expressed admiration for Vitali’s effort against Lennox Lewis (“The great fight you had was with Lennox Lewis, and by the way, you won that fight, but it was a great fight”), but chided Klitschko for being a “bully” since he made his comeback and for picking on cruiserweights like Tomasz Adamek.
Vitali defended himself for his last fight, saying he had no choice but to fight Adamek: “I can’t say no to him,” Vitali exclaimed. “If I say I don’t want to fight this cruiserweight, I lose my title.”
“How many rounds did you go with him?” asked Chisora.
“You know what, I can knock him out early, but you know what, it’s in [his] hometown, he fight in Poland, so I say, OK…” Klitschko responded, confirming the opinion of many who watched the fight that Klitschko could have done away with Adamek very early on, but deliberately chose not to do so.
For his part, Vitali chided the cheeky Brit for his seeming lack of seriousness.
“You don’t read the newspapers, you don’t watch the TV,” laughed Vitali.
“Listen to me, I don’t follow boxing,” Chisora replied. “I don’t know who’s in my division.”
“This is your biggest mistake,” Vitali lectured. “You have to study, you have to study your next opponent.”
“If you don’t do that, it is your biggest mistake. I’m sorry, I have a little bit more experience than you.”
The less serious topic of Chisora’s penchant for kissing men and expressing lustful feelings toward his opponents was also brought up.
“You know what, I am very conservative,” said Vitali. “I kiss just women. The mans, it’s not my….”
“I swing both ways,” Chisora shot back. “Don’t worry about that. I don’t mind.”
“You want to kiss me?” Vitali asked incredulously. “I don’t wish to take a kiss from you.”
“You know what, they say once you’ve gone black, you can’t go back,” Chisora deadpanned.
Klitschko and Chisora get in the ring together on February 18 in Munich, Germany.
